Jul 29, 2012 -Brian Ebersole had a tough fight against T.J. Waldburger at UFC on FX 4. He won, but it was fairly grueling with tough moments in all three-rounds. He was slightly favored to win and it appeared odds makers had the right inclination heading into the bout.

James head was supposed to face Claude Patrick at UFC 149, but Patrick withdrew due to injury. Who replaced him? Brian Ebersole. And why not? Oddsmakers, media and fans largely believed Ebersole was far better than Head and had a superb chance at victory. The fights were only a month apart, but the risk appeared to be low.

Yet, none of what was expected to happen actually happened. Not only did Ebersole lose, but he barely resembled the fighter fans knew him to be. He wasn't able to execute many techniques he had previously used with success against equally qualified opposition. He looked tired and slow. For a fighter flirting with the idea of a drop to lightweight, this was hardly proof such a move was possible. Many in the MMA community wondered: was it really a good idea to take two fights in the UFC so closely together?

It's an important question, but one where it's exceedingly difficult to find a clear answer. Let's look at the record of the 18 UFC fighters who've tried to make quick turnarounds and fight twice within a six-week period or less since 2005.*

The Losers

Brian Ebersole - defeats T.J. Waldburger by unanimous decision at UFC on FX 4 in late June. He then loses to James Head by split decision at UFC 149 one month later.

Josh Koscheck - drops a unanimous decision to Thiago Alves at UFC 90 in late October of 2008 (which is a fight he took on short notice). Defeats Yoshiyuki Yoshida approximately six weeks later by first-round KO at UFC: Fight for the Troops.

Krzysztof Soszynski - defeats Brian Stann by first-round kimura at UFC 97 in late April of 2009. Approximately one month later, he KO'd Andre Gusmao at UFC 98 in the first-round.

Jason MacDonald - loses to third-round rear naked choke to Demian Maia at UFC 87 in August of 2008. Rebounds against Jason Lambert one month later at UFC 88 in the first round.

Given this information, what are the takeaways?

It's fairly obvious taking a fight without adequate preparation carries risk, but is there clear and unequivocal evidence doing so within a six-week turnaround time frame is uniquely a bad idea? Not really, or at least no one can say for sure. The truth is what facts we have at this juncture are too inconclusive.

I went into writing this column thinking there would be clear evidence that taking two fights in quick succession in the UFC was a bad idea. After seeing Ebersole look languid against Head at UFC 149, I wondered what the larger UFC record on that really was. There are cases - like Ebersole's - where fighters simply don't look like themselves in their second fight in short succession.

Rick Story has the performance of his career against Thiago Alves, but looks nothing like himself against Charlie Brenneman. Mike Brown loses a close split decision to Diego Nunes and tries to double down against Rani Yahya, only to lose to a fighter many observers thought he easily outmatched heading into the bout. And so on, and so on. In a sport where peaking is critical, some admixture of over training and injury appears to make winning twice in the UFC within a six-week timeframe exceedingly difficult.

Yet, there are almost as many situations where that's simply not the case.

Chris Leben dispatches with Aaron Simpson and a mere two weeks later has a tough but outstanding performance where he puts away Yoshihiro Akiyama. Jon Jones walks through Ryan Bader and a month later destroys Shogun to become the youngest UFC champion ever. Even fighters who put in a full three rounds of work in their first bout, e.g. Danny Castillo, can still manage to earn another win in another grueling affair.

None of this proves taking two fights in close proximity to one another in the UFC is a good idea. It's clearly a doable project, but as much as we need to be careful about suggesting it's not necessarily a bad idea, we have the same obligation to underscore it's hardly a good one either.

The larger lesson may be that we can look at the particular dynamics of what's happened in the six week period in question as well as where the fighter is in their career. Are they coming off of injury? Are they burned out in training? Is the second fight a bad style match-up irrespective of training or injury? Did the fighter take the bout for competitive reasons or financial need?

One consideration in improving the data is cobbling together information that matters. Fighters routinely accept bouts in close proximity on the regional circuit of mixed martial arts, but the level of competition and pressure is so far removed that using it could undermine any significance in the finding. And at the professional level, is there an organization outside of the UFC that places this kind of pressure/offers this kind of opportunity? Bellator's tournament would be a good example, but again, the level of competition is very dubious even in their more stacked weight classes.

All in all, the one revelation here is that the automatic knee jerk reaction that taking fights too closely together leads to bad results isn't necessarily true. It can be and it can't be. Until there's more data, fighters will have to understand why they've elected to take fights in short order and whether it's really a good idea. The rewards can be high, but the challenge is also great. The UFC might even forgive them for losing when they're helping their employer in a pinch, but loses can be physically devastating and ruinous to a career.